Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 67,135 Shares of Comstock Resources, Inc. $CRK

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CRK) by 14.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 382,099 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 67,135 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Comstock Resources were worth $7,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CRK. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Comstock Resources by 344.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,853,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,436,746 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Comstock Resources by 67.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,086,868 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $22,107,000 after purchasing an additional 437,476 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Comstock Resources by 195.8% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 588,033 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $16,271,000 after purchasing an additional 389,261 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Comstock Resources by 21.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 465,554 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $12,882,000 after buying an additional 81,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Comstock Resources by 89.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 389,989 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,791,000 after buying an additional 183,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CRK. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Comstock Resources in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Bank of America cut shares of Comstock Resources from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group set a $17.00 target price on shares of Comstock Resources in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comstock Resources in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Comstock Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $20.11.

Comstock Resources Trading Down 0.7%

CRK stock opened at $19.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49. Comstock Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $14.65 and a one year high of $31.17. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.40.

Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $504.66 million. Comstock Resources had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 115.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Comstock Resources, Inc. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comstock Resources Profile

Comstock Resources, Inc is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company focuses on generating long-term value through the efficient development of unconventional resource plays and conventional prospects. Its activities encompass drilling, completion and production operations, as well as the marketing of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil.

Comstock holds a core position in the Haynesville Shale of Northwest Louisiana, one of the most active natural gas plays in North America, and has built a complementary portfolio in the Delaware Basin of West Texas.